A Second Ossani the Healer story finished this week - "The Uncanny Dome"

After finishing "Death and Punishment" on the 15th, I completed another Ossani the Healer story on the 20th titled "The Uncanny Dome", both stories set in his early days. 

 

Book Review: Cold Steel and Black Hearts - The Spearslayer Saga by R. K. Olson

REVIEW by David A. Riley

COLD STEEL AND BLACK HEARTS – THE SPEARSLAYER SAGA

R. K. Olson

Published by Raven Tale Publishing, 2026

192 pages

Cold Steel and Black Hearts is made up of ten stories styled as chapters, representing the ongoing adventures of Dar the Spearslayer. They follow on from when the Spearslayer Sect has been annihilated at the Battle of the Golga River by an alliance of its enemies. After their defeat its soldiers are put to the sword, and any survivors are labelled outlaws to be hunted down and killed. This is the opening premise for the adventures of Dar.

Determined to find his wife, son and daughter, who like all the other Spearslayer wives and children have been sold into slavery, Dar travels from city to city, forced to disguise himself as anything other than a Spearslayer because, as there is on every other survivor of the massacre, a price has been placed on his head.

On the way, he is unwillingly forced to participate in various adventures, often against his will. Local problems are secondary to him to finding his family, but life is too complex for him to avoid becoming embroiled in other matters, however temporarily.

Dar is a long way from the carefree adventurer, roaming his world in search of ill-gotten riches. He is no freebooter, but a man consumed with an almost impossible goal. But he is a man who is determined, whatever the odds, to accomplish his self-imposed mission and nothing will stand in his way.

There are many levels of tension in these stories: there is the tension created by the next dangerous situation he comes up against, whether it is human or supernatural. There is also the tension of his search for what has happened to his family, whether they are alive or dead, whether they are still free or have been sold into slavery, and you can feel his frustration when other things come in his way, and he has to deal with these first before getting back to his primary mission.

These are gritty, well written tales, with a distinctly different kind of hero.

 

 

Book Review: A Valley of Shadow by Lee Patton

REVIEW by David A. Riley

A VALLEY OF SHADOW

By Lee Patton

Published by The Arcanist: Fantasy Publishing

First released October 2025; Second edition March 2026

190 pages

This is a brisk, colourfully written sword and sorcery novel with possibly the most unusual hero I have ever come across, because he is a dead man, with a skeletal face. Although there is more to his body beneath its battered armour, it is still that of someone who should have been interred in a grave many years ago.

Izrak Laav is a veteran mercenary who has not been allowed to rest even though he died centuries in the past. Punished by becoming a member of The Call, he must carry out whatever missions he is sent on. Now haunted and guilt-ridden by half remembered events from his long ago past, he chances on a girl being pursued by strange, mysterious creatures. When he intervenes to rescue her, their two fates become intertwined, even though his continued involvement with her is against his better judgement. Or is it? About this he becomes increasingly unsure, as he tries to do what is right, even though what that is isn't always obvious to him.

This is a dark story, in a world filled with bizarre menace, and often the odds against even his own survival seem slim to non-existent, never mind that of the girl, Elishei.

I enjoyed the writing, which is both vivid and fast moving and never boring. Sometimes I had to reread a few passages, as there are so many named characters I occasionally became a little confused as to who was who, but that could have been me. A quick reread certainly put that straight – and usually the second reading was even more enjoyable than the first!

For anyone bored of yet another Conan-type hero, this is a refreshingly fantastical and grotesquely unusual change.

"Death and Punishment" - a new Ossani story

I have just finished writing a new Ossani the Healer story, tentatively titled "Death and Punishment".

This is set in Ossani's early years, starting when he is still apprenticed as an apothecary in Arana. 5,900 words long, it tells of the fate of his master Jassoom Balrahdy and Ossani's initiation into sorcery. 

Ossani the Healer

When I made the decision a few years ago to concentrate more on writing dark fantasy or sword and sorcery stories, one of the assumptions I made was that I would need to create some sort of swordsman or barbarian hero. Hence it was that Welgar was born, a northern mercenary, though his fate would be far from that of a Conan after he was possessed by the spirit of a powerful godlike demon in the notorious city of Agrypt.

Yet, despite writing a number of tales about Welgar, one of my most prolific characters turned out to be the complete opposite of a barbarian hero, but a tall, thin, dark robed, somewhat surreptitious sorcerer named Ossani, who prefers to go by the name of 'Ossani the Healer'. Due to his poor eyesight, he wears a complex contraption he calls his occular on his shaven head, made up of leather and metal bands that hold a number of different polished lenses, any two of which are arranged before his eyes, depending upon whether he wants to see near or far. 

It was with the creation of yet another non-heroic  character, Nadrain the Storyteller, that Ossani was introduced.

In "The Storyteller of Koss" Ossani appears towards the end of the tale, brought in by the city guard in Assabarr to deal with the demonically-possessed sarcophagus of a millennia-dead despot called Rianda the Terrible. Ossani's role in the story is to destroy the entities connected to it and save Nadrain's life.

His next appearance was much more extensive. In "Ossani the Healer and the Beautiful Homunculus" he shares the pages with Welgar, newly arrived in Assabarr to earn a living as a member of the city guard. Unfortunately for the two of them Assabarr has fallen under the malign influence of a puritanical revolution in the city's ruling priesthood and both their lives are in danger till they discover who is behind the troubles.

Again, Ossani is very much a background figure in the next story, "The Troupe", where he is engaged to help a group of travelling actors fool the local priesthood, though his aid ultimately has dire results for the leading protagonist!

After this, it was time for Ossani to leave the city of Assabarr, whose hostile priesthood has  decided to set their dreaded Inquisition on him. Sorcery is illegal in Assabarr on pain of death. Thus it is in "Ossani's Escape" he sets out with a group of newly-acquired  slaves for the city of Oriaska, whose priesthood is weak and whose citizens are more interested in making money and licentiousness than any sorcerous activities. 

Immediately after arriving in Oriaska, though, Ossani meets his most dangerous challenges yet, when two sorcerous attacks are made on his life. This tale is "The Moneylender of Oriaska", in which he meets his future apprentice, the girl Arrenya, who features as the main protagonist in his next story, "Ossani's Apprentice". 

Around this time Ossani appears in a smaller if ultimately important role in "Ezmiyel the Beggar", where some of Ossani's darker side is revealed.

With the return of Welgar after the events that befell our hero in "The Forbidden City of Cyramon", both men have important roles to play in "Emerging from their Twilit Realms".

Putting in but a passing appearance in "The Sorcerer's Casket", Ossani's next major role is in "From the Ashes" when he is reunited with Welgar, when they have to deal with a powerful and deadly vampiric entity. 

"Masks of Deception" introduces a second, younger apprentice to Ossani, who works with Arrenya in a bid to rescue Ossani after he is kidnapped by a group of vengeful Agryptian sorcerer-priests, intent on subjecting him to a long and painful death.

The final Ossani tale to date is "The Narcolopsia", which again involves Welgar and more Agryptian vengefulness.

Ossani stories to date are: 

The Storyteller of Koss - Summer of Sci-Fi & Fantasy Volume 1

Ossani the Healer and the Beautiful Homunculus - Welgar the Cursed

The Troupe - Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 8

Ossani's Escape - Cirsova, Fall Issue 2026

The Moneylender of Oriaska - Swords & Heroes Quarterly Spring 2026

Ossani's Apprentice - Swords & Heroes Quarterly Spring 2026

Ezmiyel the Beggar - not yet published

Emerging from their Twilit Realms - Welgar the Cursed

The Sorcerer's Casket - not yet published

From the Ashes - Savage Realms Monthly July 2026

Masks of Deception - not yet published

The Narcolopsia - not yet published 

 

 

 

My latest Welgar and Ossani story, "From the Ashes" is in the July issue of Savage Realms Monthly

My latest Welgar and Ossani story "From the Ashes" is in the current issue of Savage Realms Monthly.

This is a direct sequel to the last story in my collection Welgar the Cursed published by Tule Fog Press last year. 

This year has already seen two Ossani the Healer stories: "The Moneylender of Oriaska" and "Ossani's Apprentice" in Swords & Heroes Quarterly #2. 

Another Ossani story will be in the Fall issue of Cirsova magazine which will be out shortly: "Ossani's Escape". 

 

 

Half Page Ad Booked for the last issue of Cirsova magazine

 

We have just booked a half page ad for Parallel Universe Publications' sword and sorcery books in the next (and final) issue of Cirsova, which will also include one of my stories, "Ossani's Escape."

Cirsova - which includes my story Ossani's Escape

The next (and unfortunately final) issue of Cirsova magazine will be published this Fall. I have just seen the cover for the first time.

I am currently enquiring about placing a half-page ad for Parallel Universe Publications' sword and sorcery books in it.  

My story is "Ossani's Escape", which will be the fourth Ossani story to be published this year. His previous tales were:

"The Moneylender of Oriaska" and ""Ossani's Apprentice", which both appeared in Tule Fog Press's Swords & Heroes Quarterly #2.

His third story is in the new issue of Savage Realms Monthly, which is due out any time now: "From the Ashes", which reunites him with Welgar the Cursed. 

"Ossani's Escape" actually takes place prior to all these tales.  

A detailed review of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 10

I missed seeing earlier a rather good, detailed review of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 10 on amazon.

Click on the image to get an enlarged version. 

 

"From the Ashes" to be published in Savage Realms Monthly #46 in August 2026

I am now awaiting the edits on my story "From the Ashes" which will appear in the next issue of Savage Realms Monthly.

This will be my third story in this esteemed magazine.

The first was "The Carpetmaker of Arana" in the May 2022 issue

The second was "The Dark Priestdom" in the March 2023 issue.

"From the Ashes" includes two of my ongoing characters, Ossani the Healer and Welgar, and follows immediately from the end of my collection Welgar the Cursed, published by Lyndon Perry's Tule Fog Press last year.

It's also the third tale involving Ossani to be published this year, with a fourth coming out in the Fall issue of Cirsova. The previous two, "The Moneylender of Oriaska" and "Ossani's Apprentice" were in Swords & Heroes Quarterly #2.

The Farmhouse reprinted in the latest issue of Schlock! Webzine

 

The latest issue of Schlock! Webzine includes an oft reprinted copy of my second professional sale back in 1971, a short story called "The Farmhouse", which was first published in New Writings in Horror & the Supernatural edited by David A. Sutton for Sphere Books. This anthology was reprinted in 2013 by Dave's Shadow Publishing as Horror Under the Tombstone and was again reprinted last year in New Writings in Horror & the Supernatural Omnibus by PS Publishing.

The story's first reprint was in Stuart David Schiff's magazine Whispers in 1973. Then in the hard cover anthology First World Fantasy Awards published by Doubleday in 1977, edited by Gahan Wilson.

A German version of Dave Sutton's anthology, titled Solo fur einen Kannibalen appeared in 1976, with my story retitled "Der Eroberer".

Two unauthorized Italian reprints occurred in 1989 and 1995 - Horror Story 2 from Garden Editoriale, and Horror Story n. 16 from the same publisher.

I reprinted it myself in the collection Their Cramped Dark World (Hazardous Press, then Parallel Universe Publications) in 2015.

It is also, of course, included in my The Collected SF, Fantasy & Horror Stories of David A. Riley Volume 1 - 1970-2010. 

A strangely popular story.

Updated cover for Swords & Rockets - Tales of Futures Past

 

Swords & Heroes Quarterly #2 is now available in print

This latest collection of Swords & Heroes Quarterly features eight more tales by seven writers, including a double feature by me.

Stories include: 

Dark Assassin by Bruce Durham 

The Cold Maiden’s Visit by Elí Freysson 

Hell-Wings by B. Harlan Crawford 

Four Bloodstained Souls by Matthew Ilseman 

In the Valley’s Veins by Jacob Calta 

The Sorcerer Weaves Magic in His Sleep by David Carter 

The Moneylender of Oriaska by David A. Riley 

Ossani’s Apprentice by David A. Riley

It's available from amazon.

A third Ossani story will be in print soon in the Fall issue of Cirsova, "Ossani's Escape". 

And a fourth is due to be published in a future issue of Savage Realms Monthly: "From the Ashes". 

Ossani previously appeared in

"The Storyteller of Koss" - Summer of Sci-Fi & Fantasy, 2022 

"The Troupe" - Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 8, 2024 

"Ossani the Healer and the Beautiful Homunculus" - Welgar the Cursed, 2025 

"Emerging from their Twilit Realms" - Welgar the Cursed, 2025

Other Ossani stories have been written but have yet to be sent out. 

  

Swords & Heroes Quarterly #2 - contains two Ossani the Healer stories

Prior to being made available as a kindle eBook via amazon for $2.99, the ebook of Swords & Heroes Quarterly #2 is available now via Paypal for $2.00. A print version will soon be available ($11 direct/$12 via amazon) https://paypal.com/ncp/payment/YHXUTBPDBNT4U 

This issue includes two of my Ossani the Healer stories: "The Moneylender of Oriaska" and "Ossani's Apprentice". 

There will, coincidentally, be a third Ossani story out in print soon in the Fall issue of Cirsova, "Ossani's Escape". 

Not only that, but there is also a fourth, due to be published in a future issue of Savage Realms Monthly: "From the Ashes". 

Ossani previously appeared in

"The Storyteller of Koss" - Summer of Sci-Fi & Fantasy, 2022 

"The Troupe" - Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 8, 2024 

"Ossani the Healer and the Beautiful Homunculus" - Welgar the Cursed, 2025 

"Emerging from their Twilit Realms" - Welgar the Cursed, 2025